


Just Sweet

by orphan_account



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-03-20
Packaged: 2018-05-27 21:53:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6301741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sehun is addicted to bubble tea and Yixing knows a shop that sells some. Luhan happens to work at Just Sweet, Kyungsoo is his coworker, and Jongin is Sehun's best friend who's just along for the ride.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Caramel Milk Tea w/Tapioca Bubbles

If anyone asked, Oh Sehun would say that the reason he so often frequented Just Sweet was because of the bubble tea. Not because of the cute, deer-like guy who usually worked there on weekday afternoons (during which time Sehun coincidentally didn't have class).

Sehun's friends, however, might say otherwise. Kim Jongin in particular had known Sehun since the two of them were in diapers and he could tell when his friend was in denial. Of course, Sehun had always said he was straight--Jongin and everyone else had believed him--but Jongin also knew his friend better than Sehun knew himself.

And Jongin knew Sehun didn't just like the bubble tea.

The two friends had just started attending university in Seoul, and it was about that same time that Sehun discovered the Chinese drink. Jongin, who was a dance major, had dragged Sehun along to his various orientation activities and there the two met Yixing. He was from China, had ordered bubble tea as cheap catering for a welcome event, and Sehun had been hooked ever since.

He'd pestered Yixing for weeks afterward to be a good _Ge-Hyung_ and buy his dongsaeng the drink. ("Hyuuung," Sehun had whined, "you want me to be happy, right? Well, I think I'm going through withdrawals. I could die!" Jongin had rolled his eyes, but gladly accepted when Yixing's financial generosity and giving nature had naturally extended to include him.) That was when Sehun had discovered what Jongin liked to call his second life-changing experience: the BTG (Bubble Tea Guy, as he'd been so dubbed by Jongin.)

Sure, it wasn't exactly a clever nickname, but the guy hadn't been wearing a name tag the first time they'd gone to the shop with Yixing, and during any subsequent visits Sehun was too distracted by anticipation for his drink to check for one. At least that's what he liked to tell himself. In reality, Jongin often thought that Sehun was too nervous to see the BTG's name because having a name would make the BTG a real person. By that logic, if the BTG was real that means Sehun's crush on him was real too and that, Jongin usually concluded, was too much for his seemingly-heterosexual friend to handle.

Today, though, was different. Jongin was usually stuck in class whenever Sehun decided to venture into Just Sweet, but today his professor had cancelled at the last minute and Jongin was free. Sehun was too--like always--so the best friends went for bubble tea.

No one else was there when they walked in, except for the BTG and his cute coworker with heart shaped lips and the biggest eyes Jongin had seen probably ever. Sehun had always been a creature of habit, so he knew what he wanted and left Jongin to peruse the menu while he himself went to greet the other guy, calling him Kyungsoo and asking about some assignment from a shared class. Jongin, however, couldn't decide what he wanted--was it best to just go classic because caramel bubble tea sounded kind of divine--and he must have looked a little hopeless because he heard a cheerful "What can I help you with today?" He looked toward the BTG and automatically checked for a name, finding Luhan written in pretty Hangul and worn on a tag that was pinned neatly to a bright pink apron. Sehun chose that moment to reappear and Jongin purposefully replied, "I don't know Luhan, maybe you could offer me a suggestion...?"

Sehun might have been somewhat familiar with Kyungsoo, but he blanched at hearing the BTG's name and blurted out "Your name is Luhan? Why didn't you have a name tag on the first time we came?" before he could stop himself. His face, which had been so pale an instant ago, suddenly turned bright red and Jongin couldn't help but chuckle at his friend. Kyungsoo and Luhan were laughing too, but Jongin couldn't help noticing that the BTG was also looking up at his friend through long lashes and blushing.

"I remember that actually," he said. "You came with Yixing, right?"

Sehun still seemed paralyzingly embarrassed so Jongin took the liberty of nodding in response for both of them.

"Mhmm," Luhan hummed in remembrance. "A mutual friend of mine and Yixing is a manager here and he chewed me out for not wearing it. That was right after you guys left actually."

"Good job, hyung," Kyungsoo said mockingly and Jongin found he quite liked the guy's voice.

The BTG shrugged, "That was, like, my second day of work or something; I forgot my name tag. Big deal!"

Sehun's mouth had dropped open when he heard that Yixing and Luhan knew each other--Sehun could have been drinking free bubble tea this whole time if he'd known that Yixing had connections. Jongin, however, was laughing again, both at his friend's idiocy and Luhan's forgetfulness.

They're perfect for each other, he thought with a smile. He happened, in that moment, to catch the eye of Kyungsoo, who smirked as if he could read Jongin's mind and agreed with him.

Luhan, on the other hand, was pouting. "You know," he said, turning away from Jongin to face Sehun directly, "you come in here at least twice a week, but you've never actually spoken anything more than your order to me. And now you clearly know my name but I don't have yours." (This was very obviously Luhan's attempt to flirt with his friend and Jongin was pleased to see the BTG at least was comfortable enough in his sexuality to express an interest. Jongin also wondered how Sehun could be so clueless as to know Kyungsoo but never stop to ask for the name of his coworker.)

The BTG continued to pout prettily at Sehun, blinking his big doe eyes until Jongin finally had enough and said, "His name is Oh Sehun." Jongin should have stopped there but he temporarily placed his friend's love life above his own safety, and continued. "He's here as a rap major on scholarship; he likes the color black; he could happily live on bubble tea for the rest of his life; and he thinks you're cute but would never in a million years admit that to you, to himself, or to anyone really."

At that point, Jongin's latent sense of self-preservation kicked in and he swiftly grabbed his drink from the counter--he'd decided on caramel and had ordered from Kyungsoo while his friend and Luhan had been ogling each other--leaving Sehun to deal with the unavoidable awkwardness Jongin was sure to follow. (Thoughtfully, because Jongin was nothing if not conscientious, he left Sehun the bill too.)

Sehun was still standing gaping after his friend when he heard Luhan's giggle.

"Oh, I like him," the BTG said, winking at Sehun and causing Kyungsoo to nod in agreement. "He's very informative. And if it helps, Oh Sehun," Luhan said, causing Sehun to shiver involuntarily at the way his name rolled effortlessly off of Luhan's lips, "I think you're cute too."

He winked again. "Sexy even."

Sehun could only grab his drink from Kyungsoo and throw a ten on the counter, muttering a quick "Keep the change" to Luhan before running out after Jongin, his face flaming.


	2. Green Tea w/Pudding and Topped with Coconut Whipped Cream

If anyone asked, Oh Sehun would say that the reason he stopped frequenting Just Sweet was because he’d lost his taste for their bubble tea. Not because the deer-like guy who worked there—who’s name Sehun now knew to be Luhan—had blatantly hit on him and called him sexy. And definitely not because Jongin, Sehun’s sorry excuse for a best friend, had admitted to the BTG that Sehun thought he was cute but was too embarrassed to admit it.

(Sehun wondered if Jongin had a death wish because his friend was clearly asking for it that day. Sehun might have been going to school for rap, but he was also minoring in composition and could be quite creative when the situation demanded it. He’d kicked his friend so hard that Jongin had complained he’d never be able to have kids. Sehun had retorted that Jongin was gay and probably wouldn’t be fathering any biological children anyway.)

Jongin, on the other hand, just thought that Sehun was being a chicken. Unlike his best friend, Jongin was more than willing to go back to Just Sweet—especially since Jongin had somehow ended up with Kyungsoo’s number written on the side of his drink, despite leaving the shop in a total hurry. Alas, Sehun refused to accompany his friend when Kyungsoo texted asking Jongin to stop by sometime. (Kyungsoo had written, “Drinks on me? :*” followed by a “#^_^#”, and Jongin thought it was so adorable that he had just about passed out.) Sehun claimed that the bubble tea at Just Sweet no longer appealed to him, but Jongin knew his friend was still embarrassed about the whole Luhan situation. On top of that, Sehun was likely wrestling with his sense of identity and seemed to be having a bit of a difficult time coming to terms with the fact that he was probably bi—or at the very least, gay for Luhan.

Which is why Jongin took it upon himself to intervene on Sehun’s behalf. Again. He’d annoyed Sehun until his friend had agreed to wingman for him under the condition that Jongin would not be hanging out with Kyungsoo at the latter’s place of employment. Jongin felt he was well-equipped to handle Kyungsoo on his own, but he’d pretended otherwise for his friend’s sake. Kyungsoo, who wanted to see Luhan happy and for some reason seemed to like this mischievous side of Jongin, had agreed to participate in the Kim boy’s plan to push Sehun and Luhan together.

When the time for their date came, Jongin admitted that he’d offered to pick Kyungsoo up from work after his shift and Sehun was then so adamantly against accompanying them that Jongin had to literally drag his friend to Just Sweet by the ear. As he was being dragged against his will, it occurred to Sehun that today it was both the weekend and mid-morning, so the likelihood of Luha—err, of the bubble tea being delicious—was slim. With that thought, Sehun felt slightly better about third-wheeling on a Saturday morning when he’d much rather be sleeping in.

What Jongin and Kyungsoo knew—but Sehun didn’t—however, is that Luhan loved the idea of Kyungsoo and Jongin together, and had practically begged to cover for Kyungsoo today. Their manager, Yifan, had pointed out that Just Sweet did actually have more than two employees, but Kyungsoo had quickly stepped in to accept Luhan’s offer, hinting to Yifan with his enormous eyes that there was a very good reason Luhan had to be working today.

As the two best friends approached the bubble tea shop, Sehun couldn’t help but surreptitiously check his surroundings for the presence of the BTG, sighing with relief when Luhan was nowhere to be found. Jongin, who saw everything when it came to Sehun, noticed his friend’s actions and had to pinch himself to keep from grinning at what was soon to come. Sehun, who knew Jongin pretty well too, saw his friend’s smile despite Jongin’s attempt to hide it, but attributed the mini-dimples and the ascending cheekbones to excitement at going out with Kyungsoo and remained none the wiser.

They came to the front door and Sehun stopped short. “I thought we’d be meeting Kyungsoo at the employee’s entrance?” he asked Jongin with a little trepidation. He’d known Jongin long enough to realize something wasn’t right and Sehun was starting to wonder what exactly he’d gotten himself into.

“Uh,” Jongin stuttered out, trying to come up with a reason to get Sehun inside. “Well, you know he said he’d make me bubble tea. Kyungsoo-ssi suggested we get drinks here and go hang out in the park to save money.”

Sehun was still skeptical, but had to agree that, as struggling college students on scholarship, he and Jongin could definitely do with saving money. He’d planned to make Jongin buy him something wherever they ended up going—as compensation for his services—but figured a drink courtesy of Kyungsoo worked just as well.

He instantly regretted his decision to enter Just Sweet, however, when he was greeted with an “Our Sehunnie! You’ve come back to me!” as soon as he walked in. Sehun could hear Jongin laughing at him, but he couldn’t help that the tips of his ears turned pink, or that his fight-or flight instinct kicked in, causing him to turn back toward the door and try to flee from the BTG.

“Nuh-uh,” Jongin said, like the devil Sehun knew he was, “You’re not going anywhere.”

Sehun could only groan in protest, but allowed himself to be turned to face Luhan, even letting his friend press him down into a polite bow of greeting toward the older BTG.

“Uh, yeah,” Sehun managed to get out, scratching the back of his neck in a futile attempt to hide his embarrassment at seeing Luhan again. “You’re a dick,” he whispered to Jongin under his breath; but his best friend only grinned wider and went to say hello to his date.

“It’s been a while, Sehunnie,” Luhan said with a pout.

“Uh, yeah,” Sehun said again, cursing his apparent inability to communicate where Luhan was concerned. “I don’t really like the bubble tea here anymore.”

Luhan gasped like Sehun’s words were a personal insult, and said quickly, “Bubble tea is always delicious! How could you say that?!”

Sehun, who’d never actually verbally admitted his cover story for his sudden absence from Just Sweet, was actually just as appalled as Luhan. To save face, however, he maintained an expression of detached distaste, to which Luhan responded with, “What about trying something else then?”

Huh, Sehun thought. I’m here, so I might as well, I guess.

“Uh, sure,” he replied.

“How about this,” Luhan said with a slight smirk, “I’ll make you something and you’ll just have to be pleasantly surprised by my genius, okay?”

Sehun found himself nodding before he could stop himself, unable to halt the thought that Luhan would probably be appealing even without being a self-proclaimed bubble tea genius. (Because, fine, yes; Sehun could admit that Luhan was attractive, and cute, and cheerful, and adorable, and kind of funny, and sweet too—according to Kyungsoo via Jongin. Objectively speaking, of course.)

“This is a green tea with pudding and topped with coconut whipped cream,” Luhan explained as he handed Sehun his finished drink, making sure to brush their fingers together in the process. “It’s on me,” he said, “so enjoy.” He winked at Sehun as he said this, causing the younger boy to wonder if Luhan ever operated in anything other than full-on flirt mode.

Five turned to fifty minutes later, and Sehun tried telling himself that the reason he didn’t leave Just Sweet was because he felt indebted to Luhan for buying his drink. But when he finally stopped conversing with the BTG to look around for Jongin, Sehun found that his friend and his date were nowhere to be found. At that point, Sehun thought he should probably stop denying what Jongin had said all along: the Sehun liked liked Luhan.

Sometime during their extended conversation, Sehun had finished his drink and Luhan had thoughtfully made him another one—this time it was Sehun’s usual order of an original bubble tea—and delivered it with a smirk but no comment. When Luhan somehow managed to get whipped cream on his nose while preparing something for another customer, Sehun couldn’t help reaching out to wipe it off, reflexively licking his thumb afterward.

This time, Luhan was flustered by Sehun, and the BTG squeaked in surprise at the feel of Sehun’s touch on his face. Sehun chuckled, finding he quite liked his ability to make Luhan react like that.

Yifan eventually appeared some time after noon, and he grumbled about “distracted employees” until Sehun felt too guilty to stay.

“I should, uh, go,” he said to Luhan, trying and failing not to cower under Yifan’s glare.

“Aw,” Luhan said, pouting again. “But you just got here!”

Sehun blushed and Luhan reached out to pinch his cheeks. “Aigoo! So cute!”

“I think so too,” Sehun admitted. He was trying to get past his own embarrassment to admit for himself the secret that Jongin had so rudely shared the last time.

Luhan giggled and Sehun sputtered out, “I mean, you! Cute! I think, You!” Luhan continued giggling and Sehun just groaned, rushing out of Just Sweet to hide his embarrassment.

“Come back soon!” Luhan called out to him as he left.

(“Why,” Sehun asked Jongin later, “Why does this always happen to me?”)

 


	3. Lemon Slushy w/Bubbles

If anyone asked, Oh Sehun would say that the reason he keeps going back to Just Sweet is because of his recent discovery of their green tea. Not because he was now kind of coming to terms with his crush on Luhan, the still cute, deer-like guy who worked there. And not at all because he liked the way Luhan's attention was always focused solely on Sehun.

So really, if anyone asked, Sehun had no right to feeling upset or jealous when he went to Just Sweet today and found Luhan joking and laughing with some guy. But he was, and that surprised him because usually Sehun was not at all the jealous boyfriend type.

If the guy were Jongin--who was not only Sehun's best friend, but was also so into Luhan's coworker that he was basically harmless--Sehun would have been worried about what secrets Jongin might be sharing with the BTG, but would generally be fine with it. If the guy were Kyungsoo--said coworker with whom Jongin was infatuated--or Yifan--the scary student manager of Just Sweet--Sehun would have been fine with that too.

But no. This guy was unfamiliar and that Sehun had a problem with. He had no real claims on Luhan and Sehun hadn't realized how much that bothered him until today, when he couldn't do much more than glare at the intruder in silence. Before Luhan, Sehun hadn't really been the possessive type either, but it was taking a lot of willpower for him not to go up and stake a claim on his man.

How can he do this? Sehun thought miserably. I thought Luhan was interested in me.

Sehun sighed loudly in response to his own contemplations, catching Luhan's attention as a result.

"Hi Sehunnie!" the BTG said with a grin. Sehun smiled tentatively at Luhan in return, but mentally cursed Jongin when the next words out of Luhan's mouth were "I mithed you!" (Sehun had a lisp when he was younger and Jongin must have shared that semi-embarrassing fact with the BTG during one of the times he came to see Kyungsoo.)

Luhan smiled brilliantly when Sehun started pouting and winked at him before commenting on Sehun's cuteness like he always did. With that, the other guy cleared his throat loudly at being ignored and Sehun was reminded of his anger, his pout turning into a frown.

"Lemon slushy with bubbles," Sehun ordered curtly. To reflect my mood, he thought petulantly when Luhan looked a little confused at the abrupt turn of events and wanted to know why Sehun was ordering something other than the green tea or his usual.

"Um, okay," Luhan replied, eyebrows slightly furrowed and clearly still a little confused. "This is Tao, by the way," the BTG said to Sehun from over his shoulder as he turned to grab the ice from the freezer. "He's a freshman like you and he raps too."

"Sup?" the other guy said in greeting, a tongue stud flashing as he did so. In that moment, Sehun decided he hated Tao for being exactly like him except cooler.

Sehun merely grunted in response, unwilling to open his own mouth and reveal a very obvious lack of any stupidly sexy piercings. He then moved toward the end of the order counter to wait for his drink in silence, glaring at Tao as he did so.

You're acting like an idiot, Sehun told himself silently, annoyed that Luhan's lack of attention was having such a great impact on his mood.

Sehun had already paid for his drink and was all prepared to leave in a huff once Luhan stopped being distracted by Tao's presence and finished making Sehun's drink. When Tao said, "Actually, Lu, I think I'm just going to go," and then said something else to the BTG in Mandarin, Sehun decided he didn't even want to wait for his drink anymore, even thought he'd paid good money for it. (It wasn't fair! How was Sehun supposed to know that one day while trying to one-up a romantic rival he'd regret sleeping through high school Mandarin?)

Thankfully, Kyungsoo was there to stop Sehun from making a fool of himself in front of the entire population of Just Sweet. Just as the Oh boy was reaching for the door handle, he heard his name. "Sehun!" Kyungsoo shouted out, rushing toward him from where he'd been bussing tables."You weren't leaving, were you? Your drink isn't even finished yet!"

"Sehunnie?" Luhan called out to him, and Sehun didn't have to look to know the BTG was pouting. "You're leaving?"

Kyungsoo, Sehun thought, I think I hate you almost as much as I hate Tao right now. Why are you doing this to me?!

It took Kyungsoo a few seconds to get over to where Sehun had paused in the doorway of Just Sweet. When he reached Sehun, Kyungsoo leaned over and whispered quietly, "Stop being jealous, Sehun. Tao is Luhan's cousin."

"And anyway," Sehun heard Tao say from behind him, "Kris-ge is much more my type."

Yifan poked his head out of the back office, curious at the mention of his English name, while Sehun just slammed his forehead into the counter. Repeatedly.

"The world hates me," he muttered under his breath.

Jongin, who'd arrived some time during all the commotion, chuckled at his friend's misfortune and replied, "Maybe, but Luhan doesn't."

"I hate you" was Sehun's monotone response, his face pressed flat against the countertop.

Luhan chose that moment to come rushing over with Sehun's completed order, asking Jongin if Our Sehunnie had had a bad day or something because it wasn't like him to be so cold.

Jongin smirked and opened his mouth to deliver what was doubtless going to be a response of ultimate embarrassment for Sehun. Before he could, however, Sehun mumbled, "I thought...you and Tao...and then..."

"Huh?" Luhan asked, unable to really hear what Sehun was saying and totally confused by the little he could understand. "Tao?"

"Jealous!" Sehun shouted. Everyone else in Just Sweet stopped what they were doing to look at Sehun with interest, only turning away when he blushed and started mumbling incoherently again.

"I was jealous," he continued. "Of you and Tao."

Luhan and Tao snorted simultaneously in disbelief. "Me and Tao?" the BTG said with a laugh. "But we're--"

"I know that now!" Sehun said indignantly. "But I didn't when I first came in and you two were talking and laughing like no one else existed." If it was possible his blush deepened even more. "I wanted that to be me," he said shyly.

"Pabo," Luhan giggled. "If you don't know by this point that I like Oh Sehun and only Oh Sehun, then I must be doing something wrong."

Luhan winked at Sehun--his favorite past time--and then said, "You're it for me, baby."

Before he could stop them and of their own volition, Sehun's eyes disappeared into half moons at the nickname, showing that he was clearly pleased even when he was trying really hard not to be.

"Baby. Right," he managed to say through his Luhan-induced haze.

"Yep. Baby. That's what I'm going to call you now, Sehunnie." Luhan decided. "Is that okay? Do you like it?" he asked tentatively, worried when Sehun still didn't emerge from his dazed state.

I like you, Sehun thought.

Except he must have said it out loud because the next thing Sehun knew, Luhan's lips were on his cheek and the brief kiss was followed by a whisper of "Good. I like you too," by Sehun's ear.

Recently, Sehun had promised himself that he would stop running out of Just Sweet like a maniac every time he got embarrassed or Luhan did something particularly adorable. Today, though, Sehun decided to give himself a much needed break; the last thing he heard as he ran out the door was Jongin's voice saying, "It's okay, Sehun. You can always start being normal tomorrow."


	4. Strawberry Almond Milk Tea w/Chocolate Pearls

If anyone asked, Oh Sehun would say that the reason he’d accepted Yifan’s offer of a job at Just Sweet was not because of the employee benefits—although, free bubble tea, what? And not because he was still a scholarship student—despite spending money on the Chinese drink like a chaebol—and needed the money. It wasn’t even because Sehun concluded that working at Just Sweet would force him to stick around when embarrassed because it wasn’t like he could just up and run out of his place of employment.

Actually, Sehun would say that he worked at Just Sweet because the cute, deer-like guy who’d attracted Sehun’s attention worked there too; and since he now knew definitively that Luhan liked him back, Sehun would happily have even worked overtime if that meant he’d get to see more of the BTG.

As it turns out, today was Sehun’s first day on the job, and Luhan was pretending to be a customer to teach him the ropes. Much to Sehun’s embarrassment, once he’d made and given Luhan his drink, Sehun said, “Thank you for your business;” but then he slipped, calling Luhan “BTG” in place of the usual “customer-nim” that Just Sweet employees were supposed to use. Luhan almost choked on one of the chocolate pearls in his strawberry almond milk tea when Sehun felt the need to explain his and Jongin’s nickname.

“BTG stands for Bubble Tea Guy?” Luhan asked, thoroughly amused. “Really, that’s the best you could come up with?”

Sehun shrugged and blushed. “It was mostly Jongin’s idea,” he said defensively.

Luhan pouted at that, asking why Sehun hadn’t thought of one on his own—since he’d recently admitted he liked Luhan tho much. Sehun just shoved the BTG lightly in response and tried to inconspicuously cover the blush that had spread from his cheeks to his ears.

(His childhood lisp had a tendency to emerge from deep cover whenever Sehun was really excited about something, and the opportunity to work at Just Sweet had definitely been exciting. Yifan had mentioned they were hiring and when he asked Sehun if he was interested in the job, Sehun had blurted out, “Of courth! I like Luhan tho much! I mean, bubble tea!” Sehun thought himself lucky that he and Yifan were in the back office and Luhan wasn’t there, so he had only groaned when Yifan chuckled, ruffled the Oh boy’s hair, and said, “In that case, the job’s yours.” Unfortunately for Sehun, it looks like Yifan must have told someone because now Luhan totally knew.)

“Aw,” Luhan cooed, “don’t worry, Sehunnie baby. I think it’s adorable.”

Sehun, who was becoming more confident in sharing his feelings after the shock treatment of his last few Just Sweet visits, mumbled out, “I think you’re adorable,” drawing a squeak of pleased surprise from Luhan.

“Oh Sehun just confessed to me!” Luhan shouted to the rest of the people in the bubble tea shop. Tao, who had pestered Yifan for tutoring help and was currently sitting in a corner booth with the Just Sweet manager, cheered.

“Lu-ge,” Sehun hissed, “stop! I’m embarrassed to admit this, but it’s not like this is the first time I’ve said something finger-curling to you.” Sehun actually had quite the bad habit of being mushy where Luhan was concerned, and it constantly embarrassed him that Jongin and Luhan constantly acted like he was doing something out of character. “And I’ve confessed before,” he added with a whisper.

“Well since I confessed first,” Luhan said petulantly, “let me bask in the fact that you’ve decided to finally share your feelings.” Sehun harrumphed but said nothing.

“Although,” added Luhan, “it’s not like you were doing a very good job of being subtle about it. I knew you liked me even before Jongin-ssi said anything.”

Oh god, Sehun thought to himself, lowering his head into his hands to hide his seemingly ever-present blush. “Was I really that obvious?” he asked.

“Yeah, baby, you were.” Luhan admitted with a giggle. “But it’s okay because I thought you were so cute every time you came in that I was just glad you were finally talking to me.”

Sehun was offended and tried to defend himself. “Hey!” he said, regretting the words even as they came out of his mouth, “I didn’t know your name.” (He could practically hear Jongin’s voice in the back of his mind saying, “That’s a lame excuse and you know it.”)

“Well now you do,” Luhan said, giggling at Sehun’s words but pleased that he’d won the argument. “I still can’t believe you called me BTG, though.” Luhan looked down as if reminded of something important and adjusted his name tag before glancing at Sehun to do the same for him. The BTG realized something ironic, however, and added, “You’ve forgotten your name tag, by the way.”

At Luhan’s words, Sehun found himself peering worriedly at Yifan, as if the manager had somehow heard Luhan from across the room and would shortly be coming over to give Just Sweet’s newest employee a piece of his mind. Sehun quickly checked the counter, his bag, and the pocket of his apron, but the name tag was nowhere to be found.

Luhan was overly excited about the situation and said with added cheer, “Does this mean I get to give you a nickname too?” (Sehun didn’t bother to point out that if Luhan didn’t think Sehunnie or Baby counted as nicknames then the BTG needed to get his intelligence checked.)

“Sure,” Sehun said, humoring him.

“Hmm,” Luhan hummed, looking deep in thought. Sehun suddenly had the surprising idea that he really wanted to kiss the BTG on the nose for being so cute, and had to actively refrain from doing something that would so obviously out his growing Luhan-obsession.

“Uh-huh?” Sehun prompted, needing to say something—anything—to stop himself from attacking Luhan’s face with his lips. In reality, the two weren’t actually dating and had yet to even hold hands, so Sehun wasn’t quite sure when he’d become such a pyuntae, at least where Luhan was concerned.

“Well, I can’t exactly call you BTG, obviously.” Luhan said, thinking out loud. Obviously, was Sehun’s thought in response.

“I know!” Luhan expressed triumphantly, excited again. “I’ll call you the BTGB!”

Sehun had been ready to agree with practically anything Luhan suggested, but this one just confused him. He considered a few options—Blonde, Tall, Good-looking Boy was his personal favorite—but soon gave up in defeat. “BTGB?” he asked. “Is that even short for something?”

Luhan’s giggle was practically infectious in that moment and Sehun was surprised to see that the BTG was blushing. “It’s not something embarrassing, is it?” Sehun asked, suddenly concerned that Luhan might have been spending a little too much time with Jongin. (He wasn’t sure, but Sehun thought he heard an “I hope not,” from Luhan in response.)

“Well,” Sehun said, prompting again.

“Well,” Luhan parroted back. “How does Bubble Tea Guy’s Boyfriend sound to you?”

To say Sehun wasn’t ready was an understatement. “Boyfriend?!” he managed with an accompanying “Eep!” of what Luhan hoped was agreement.

Luhan, though, was more than ready for this moment—even going so far as to coerce Jongin into stealing Sehun’s name tag before the Oh boy had come in to work today. (He’d hinted that Kyungsoo was really looking forward to seeing Seoul English Theater’s midnight showing of Singin’ in the Rain. As a result, Luhan thought that Jongin, who was terrible at foreign languages but was willing to do almost anything for the large-eyed object of his affections, might consider that the opportune moment for officially asking Kyungsoo out. After that golden nugget of information, Jongin had been more than willing to help Luhan in any way possible.)

“Um, yeah?” Luhan questioned, suddenly shy.

Unfortunately, Sehun’s initial inability to communicate where Luhan was concerned decided to come back with a vengeance and Sehun’s mind just went completely blank.

He said nothing and Luhan was worried now. “Baby? Sehunnie?” he asked. “Please, say something,” Luhan begged.

“Do I like bubble tea?” was Sehun’s idiotic response.

Sehun mentally face palmed when Luhan looked a little confused and a lot hurt and said, “Um, yes?”

“Then of courth I’ll be the BTGB,” was Sehun’s self-redeeming—and adorable—response.

Happiness became impulsivity when Luhan couldn’t contain himself and kissed Sehun squarely on the lips. Sehun was vaguely aware of Yifan’s indignant “Yah! What do you think you’re doing in my shop?” but the BTGB was too concerned with the fact that Luhan smelled like a heavenly mix of strawberries, chocolate, and almonds to give his boss the attention Yifan probably deserved.

When Luhan pulled away, Sehun became aware of a heaviness on his chest. He looked down to see that his name tag had somehow appeared while he was kissing his BTG and looked at his boyfriend with ill-concealed suspicion. “Did you have something to do with this?” he asked Luhan, unsure whether to be more amused or annoyed.

“Yep!” Luhan responded, obviously quite pleased with himself. “It’s not like you were going to make a move any time soon. And besides,” he added with a pout that Sehun desperately wanted to kiss away, “what if you decided you didn’t like me anymore?”

Sehun shook his head so vehemently in disagreement that he managed to temporarily give himself a headache. “I’d never!” was his response. “You taste too much like bubble tea.”


	5. Kumquat Thai Iced Tea Topped w/Lime Zest

If anyone asked, Oh Sehun would say that the reason he didn’t want to go into Just Sweet for work today is because Yifan is intimidating on a good day and Tao had been making all of Yifan’s days bad recently. Not because he had now been dating his cute, deer-like coworker for less than a week and had already made Luhan mad at him—somehow.

And not at all because he was afraid that Kyungsoo and Tao, his other coworkers, would take Luhan’s side in this whole situation and make Sehun the bad guy.

This afternoon, Sehun was wiping down a recently-vacated table when Luhan came in for his shift. In itself this occurrence was not unusual, for Sehun’s class schedule left him free earlier than his boyfriend. Since Sehun also had a club meeting twice a week in the evening but still wanted to see Luhan whenever he could, Sehun decided to work double on the days he had to come and leave early. What was unusual, however, was that Luhan refused to even look at Sehun when he entered the bubble tea shop, and Sehun didn’t know why.

The BTG had texted him that morning, but instead of the usual “Good Morning BTGB! <3,” the message was cursory and merely said, “Don’t talk to me today!” Sehun was pretty sure he hadn’t done anything to make his boyfriend angry, but Jongin often said that Sehun had a special ability to be an idiot without realizing it.

That’s why Sehun hadn’t wanted to come in at all today. He’d even texted and asked Kyungsoo to take his shift, but the Do boy was going to see Singin’ in the Rain that night and decided he needed to nap beforehand. When Sehun had threatened to quit, Kyungsoo had rolled his eyes at his phone and replied, “No one’s stopping you.”

(It had taken less than 30 seconds for Kyungsoo to feel bad about Sehun’s cluelessness, and he’d called Jongin, asking that he knock some sense into his best friend. Jongin had promptly appeared at the door of Sehun’s dorm, dragged his friend out by the ear, and followed him all the way to Just Sweet to make sure he actually went to work. Thanks to Jongin, Sehun was even early. Yifan had been pleased, though also incredibly confused, by Sehun’s uncharacteristic show of responsibility, but when the manager had complimented him for it, Tao had actually growled at Sehun. “Kris-ge's compliments are mine,” he’d said.)

So Sehun was at work; but now Luhan was there too. Sehun’s ear still hurt from Jongin’s overeager grip earlier, and Tao, who Luhan was replacing, had been glaring daggers at Sehun all afternoon, despite Yifan’s attempt to appease the panda by agreeing to go shopping after both finished their shift. Truthfully, Sehun was just having a terrible day.

“Talk to me, Lu,” he begged as Luhan joined him behind the counter after waving goodbye to his cousin and his manager.

Luhan bit his lip and Sehun hoped that was a sign of better things to come.

Unfortunately, Luhan’s resolve, which seemed to slip the longer he looked at his boyfriend’s adorable pout, was strengthened by the appearance of a customer at the order counter and the sudden clearing of said customer’s throat.

“Hi Jongin,” Luhan greeted cheerfully. Sehun couldn't help scoffing at the BTG’s quick change and wondered briefly if he was for sure dating a guy because it seemed to him like Luhan was PMSing. (Sehun had it on good authority that PMSing women were often moody for no reason, but usually were not pleased on being called out for it. He’d grown up the youngest—and only—brother of four older sisters, so he was basically a walking encyclopedia on females. Come to think of it, maybe that’s why he’d ended up with a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend when he’d finally decided to start dating. Huh.)

In response to his boyfriend’s outburst, Luhan briefly glanced over at Sehun, biting his lip again. I swear, Sehun thought with an internal groan, this needs to stop.

(Sehun wasn’t referring to the silent treatment.)

“Luhannie,” said Jongin, matching Luhan’s cheer with his own and giving the BTG a personalized nickname that got Sehun’s blood boiling. Unable to take the fact that Luhan was speaking to Sehun’s idiot of a best friend, but not to Sehun himself, the BTG’s boyfriend stepped away from the counter and disappeared into the back room, muttering some excuse about “We need more coffee” under his breath as he left.

Luhan sighed loudly and Jongin tried telling himself he didn’t care, but his curiosity quickly got the better of him. “What’s wrong, hyung?” he asked as gently as he could.

“We’ve been dating for four days, Jongin,” Luhan replied.

Sehun’s best friend was confused by Luhan's repeated use of his full name today—the BTG usually called him Jonginnie as payback for Luhannie—but was even less understanding as to why Luhan would say four days like it was a bad thing. “Isn’t that good?” Jongin asked. He continued, “I mean, it’s almost five, which is basically seven, which is a whole week, right?”

Luhan giggled at Jongin’s math, but quickly lost his smile when Sehun reemerged from the back, lugging a bag of coffee beans behind him. “Four sounds like death,” he whispered to Jongin, who nodded like he understood, despite being even more confused than when he started.

I don’t know what that means! Jongin thought, but said nothing more to Sehun’s boyfriend other than a quick “Thanks” when Luhan finished placing the lime zest on Jongin’s kumquat Thai iced tea and handed him the drink.

Jongin moved to a table near the center of Just Sweet, and watched for nearly half an hour as Luhan and Sehun worked together to serve customers, make drinks and keep the shop running, all without uttering a single word to one another. Well, that’s not strictly accurate because Sehun had tried to talk to his boyfriend as soon as Jongin walked away. Luhan, though, was having none of it, and Sehun had given up after a while, resigned to spending his entire shift with Luhan in silence.

Tao and Yifan returned sometime during those thirty or so minutes, joining Jongin at his table after dropping some shopping bags in the back. Thankfully, Tao was smiling again; he was richer—in Gucci, at least--while Yifan was also smiling, but also decidedly less rich.

“Where’s your better half?” Yifan asked, wondering about Kyungsoo’s whereabouts since he and Jongin were usually attached at the hip.

Jongin blushed brightly, and Tao said earnestly, “Omo, Jongin! Your blush is so sexy with your dark skin; I see why Kyungsoo-ge likes you!” The panda discreetly glanced at Yifan as he said this, and was pleased to see the student manager’s expression noticeably darken.

Afraid for his life, Jongin ignored Tao’s words. He was about to respond to Yifan’s earlier query, but was temporarily distracted by Luhan brushing off Sehun yet again. Ouch, Jongin thought, that’s a pretty harsh way to treat your boyfriend, especially after pursuing him so actively and being so interested less than a day ago.

Both of Jongin’s table mates noticed his lack of attention and followed his gaze to a depressed Sehun and a harassed-looked Luhan.

“What’s up with Hunhan?” Yifan wanted to know, looking to Jongin as if Sehun’s best friend could give him the answer he was looking for.

All three were startled by an abrupt giggle from the two guys seated at the table next to theirs, and Tao turned around in his chair to glare at the cause of the interruption.

“Sorry, sorry,” the one Jongin assumed was the giggler said.

“What he said!” the other one quickly apologized. “Baek was just overly excited about Galaxy-hyung calling our favorite bubble tea couple Hunhan becau—”

Baek interrupted him but the other guy didn’t seem to mind too much. “Because that’s what Yeollie and I call them!” He looked at his friend and the two seemed to come to an unspoken agreement because both grabbed their drink, got up suddenly from their table and filled in the remaining seats at Jongin’s.

“Yah!” Tao said, glaring at the two intruders and moving closer to Yifan, who had been more than pleased at being called Galaxy-hyung—it meant his reputation preceded him. Jongin didn’t really mind though, and giggled at the thought of Sehun and the BTG having actual fans.

“I’m Jongin,” he said, “Sehun’s my best friend. And this is Tao and Yifan,” Jongin introduced his companions.

The one that Baek had called Yeollie bounced once in his seat from excitement and said creepily, “We know who you are.”

Baek nodded in agreement. “You two especially,” he said, pointing at Tao and Yifan. “We’re just waiting for you to get together too because Yeollie has the best couple name picked out for you. Don’t you, baby?” Baek asked.

“Yep!” Yeollie replied. “By the way,” he said, as if suddenly remembering something important, "My name is Chanyeol. This is Baekhyun. But you can call us Baekyeol if you want."

Chanyeol gestured between the two of them. "Since we're boyfriends," he said with a grin.

(Yifan was too overwhelmed by Chanyeol's everything to realize that he and Baekhyun had basically just said that Tao and Yifan should date. The Just Sweet manager hadn't really thought much about his feelings for the panda until Tao had started working at the bubble tea shop. Now, Yifan felt constantly overwhelmed by his crush on Tao, and had to keep reminding himself that Tao only thought of him as an older brother with a bottomless wallet. Unfortunately.)

"Back to the matter at hand though," Baekhyun said, seemingly tired of the time it was taking Chanyeol and Jongin to introduce everyone.

"Yeah?" Jongin said questioningly. He looked back to where Luhan and Sehun were working, but only saw the original BTG. (Sehun had gone back to the storage room for more coffee.)

"Well?" Baekhyun prompted, tapping his foot against the table leg in impatience. Tao and Yifan sent him matching glares, and Chanyeol reacted by placing an arm around his boyfriend's shoulders protectively. "Tell us what you know!" Baekhyun continued, foot still tapping.

Jongin sighed. "It's not as much as I'd like," he said apologetically. "All I know is that Luhan-hyung texted this morning and told Sehun not to talk to him today. But when I asked Luhannie what was wrong, he just said something weird about four days and death." Jongin scratched the back of his neck, clearly puzzled. "I don't even know."

"Four and death, you said?" Tao asked curiously, exchanging a glance with Yifan. Jongin hummed in affirmation.

"Ah!" Baekhyun and Chanyeol said at the same. They seemed to come to another agreement and Chanyeol turned to Tao.

"You're his cousin," he said.

"Uh, yeah?" Tao answered.

Chanyeol nodded sagely, asking "Is Luhan very superstitious?"

"He is!" Tao shouted in response just as Sehun started making his way over to clean Baekyeol's now empty table. "I knew it!"

Sehun looked at the group curiously, his eyes falling particularly on the two people he didn't know.

"Baekyeol at your service!" Chanyeol said, making his introductions for the second time.

Baekhyun, on the other hand, looked a bit star-struck, and he squeaked out, "Oh Sehun! Yeollie and I are huge fans of your work!"

Jongin snorted loudly at Sehun's response of "Huh?" but soon mellowed enough to share with his friend the good news.

"These guys are basically love doctors," Jongin said convincingly, "and they think they know what's wrong with Luhannie-hyung."

Sehun didn't know these two customers from Adam, but he did know and wholeheartedly trust Jongin. "Fine," he sighed out. "At this point I could use all the help I can get."

Tao was annoyed. "Yah!" He said angrily. "You could have just asked me. I'm his cousin and I know everything there is to know about the guy."

"Okay then," Jongin responded. "I amend my earlier statement. All three are love doctors and Tao especially knows how to help you out. Better?" He asked, looking over at Tao, who nodded happily.

Sehun looked at Jongin and the three so-called love doctors expectantly. "So," he asked, "what do I do?"

"Absolutely nothing," was Chanyeol's response.

"Literally," Baekhyun added.

Sehun seemed confused to Tao decided to step in. "Look," he said in explanation, "my cousin is highly superstitious. Back home, four is bad luck because the word for it in Mandarin sounds too much like the word for death."

Oh, Jongin thought sympathetically, I get it now. My poor Sehun!

"Wait," Sehun stopped Tao from finishing his explanation, and Yifan glared subtly at him for it. "You're telling me that Luhan isn't mad at all, he's just superstitious enough to think that the number 4 is bad luck?"

Tao nodded and Sehun rolled his eyes.

"So what," Sehun continued, half-jokingly, "Luhan doesn't want us to interact on our fourth day of dating because he thinks it'll curse us our something?" He laughed, but Tao nodded again, more gravely this time.

"That's absurd!" Jongin practically shouted. "It sucks too," he said, turning to Sehun, "because it's not like you can apologize or something since he isn't actually mad."

"Way to point out the obvious," Baekhyun responded sarcastically.

"Shut up," Jongin muttered, offended that the newcomer had no problem poking fun at Jongin and his friends. Rude, he thought, vaguely aggravated.

Sehun, who had long drowned everyone out and was simply staring at his boufriend as Luhan worked the counter, keyed back into the conversation, suddenly desperate. "But what do I do, though?" he asked in exasperation.

"We told you!" Baekyeol and Tao said at the same time.

Even Yifan knew the answer to this one. "Nothing," he said evenly, secretly proud to finally contribute to the conversation, kind of impress Tao, and hopefully live up to his Galaxy-hyung reputation.

"But I miss him," Sehun pouted cutely.

"Aw, you poor baby," Baekhyun said with genuine sympathy, taking pity on the maknae of the group. "You'll just have to wait until tomorrow. That's only," he grabbed his boyfriend's wrist to check Chanyeol's watch before finishing, "Nine hours away!"

Sehun spirits lifted a little, but he continued to pour because it makes him feel better, okay?

"Look on the bright side, Sehun" Tao suggested to his coworker. "Today might suck because it's your fourth day and bad luck and all, but pretty soon it will be Day 8. So look forward to that!"

"Why? What happens then?" Sehun asked, confused. Tao said nothing, so Sehun looked at Chanyeol and Baekhyun. The couple waggled their eyebrows suggestively, but remained mute.

Nine hours later, at exactly 12:01 AM on the start of their fifth day, Sehun texted Luhan.

"I missed you today," the message read.

"I know," Luhan responded, instantly. "I know because I missed you too. And I'm sorry," the BTG apologized to his boyfriend.

Sehun told himself he'd forgive Luhan if his boyfriend would tell him the secret of Day 8. When he texted and asked Luhan, however, all his boyfriend said was "Luck. The good kind."


	6. Coca-Cola w/Bubbles

If anyone asked, Oh Sehun would say that the reason he continued working at Just Sweet despite the strain on his time—and the scary student manager—is because he basically got paid to spend time with Luhan, his cute, deer-like boyfriend, and because Sehun really really liked bubble tea.

He would not say that he stuck to this job because he's kind of come to like Tao as a person ever since Sehun's spout of jealousy made a mishap of their first meeting. Sehun would also not say it's because Tao's a wizard at cooking tapioca but is actually terrible at mixing any of the drinks. (That's why Sehun always opted for a simple coca-cola with bubbles whenever he was on break and Tao offered to make something for his favorite cousin-in-law.) Really though, Sehun would have felt kind of bad for the customers of Just Sweet if Tao was left without a barista partner during the shifts he shared with Sehun.

But really, if anyone asked, the thing above all else that Sehun would never ever admit is that watching Tao and Yifan's relationship progress was fascinating. (Sehun wondered if this is how everyone else felt before he and Luhan finally got together. He posed this question to Jongin a few weeks ago while the latter had been waiting for Kyungsoo to get off work. They had plans to see the midnight showing of some movie musical—Dancing with Umbrellas or something like that to do with rain, Jongin had explained—but Sehun hadn't really cared about Jongin's romance in that moment and was only curious about his own. But then Baekhyun and Chanyeol had appeared out of literal nowhere and said at the same time, "Obviously!" Which prompted the thought that the couple seemed like they were always in Just Sweet, and Sehun had wondered about that, too).

So Sehun continued working at Just Sweet, continues to happily date Luhan and continued to creep on Tao and Yifan whenever he got the chance. Which is why he was at the bubble tea shop today, even though it was supposed to be his day off. Because today was also his and Luhan's 22 day anniversary, and Sehun wanted everything to be perfect.

While making some last minute preparations the night before, Sehun had ruefully asked himself when he'd become such a romantic sap, especially one who celebrated made-up romantic holidays that one couple on We Got Married celebrated one time, ages ago. But when Sehun surprised his boyfriend at work today with flowers and a gruff "Happy 2-2 Anniversary"—to which Luhan responded with a watery smile and an especially grateful kiss of thanks—Sehun decided he didn't really care about being a cheesy romantic if it meant Luhan would look at him with happiness like that every day.

Luhan still had a shift to finish, so Sehun found himself just hanging out in the shop and watching his boyfriend work. At some point, Tao came over and asked if he wanted anything to drink, so Sehun just ordered his usual.

"Bubble Coke, please," he said, grateful that he wouldn't have to go back to work after enjoying his drink and could actually relax.

"Oh! So your usual, then?" Tao clarified.

"Yeah," Sehun replied. He was about to return to his previous pastime of ogling Luhan, but a thought struck him and he turned back to his coworker. "Wait a minute...Tao?" he asked, confused.

Tao turned back toward Sehun from where he'd been walking to the counter. "Yeah?"

"You're working today?" It came out as a question, but really Sehun was just stating the obvious. (Jongin liked to say Sehun was dropped on his head as a child and as such was particularly good at pointing out obvious things. Sehun just liked to say that Jongin was a jerk.)

Tao scratched the back of his neck in a physical expression of minor confusion. He was unsure whether he'd understood Sehun correctly—because even after living in Seoul for years, Zitao's Korean could still use some improvements—so he replied, "Um, yes?" with a questioning lilt at the end—just in case.

"Why?" Sehun prompted when Tao elaborated no further.

"Oh! Oh!" Tao said, as if he finally got it—which he finally did. He answered Sehun, "Kyung-ge took the day because he and Jongin apparently had a pretty late night yesterday."

Luhan, who overheard this part of Tao's explanation, waggled his eyebrows suggestively before going back to work.

Tao continued, "And then you wouldn't answer your phone this morning, so Kris-ge called me instead."

Sehun remembered that, actually. He'd been pulled from dreamland by the sound of Queen's "I Was Born to Love You"—his ringtone because it was the theme song of his favorite Japanese drama and he was just a sucker for sports television, okay?—but had decided to ignore the call when he realized that it was just Yifan on the other end and not someone legitimately important. (Like Luhan. Or Sehun's mother.)

Sehun found himself being secretly self-congratulatory as Tao walked away to make his coca-cola with bubbles because it was really Sehun's doing which caused Yifan to call Tao and ask for the wushu panda specifically. (Sehun ignored the fact that Yifan had actually called him first, because he figured that was Yifan's way of letting him spend more time with Luhan anyway.) And actually, Sehun had noticed—while watching Luhan, of course—that today Yifan was much more present in the cafe area of Just Sweet than he ever was when it was just Sehun, Luhan or Kyungsoo at work.

Yifan is so not subtle, Sehun thought to himself with amusement. He wondered why the student manager didn’t just make a move on Tao, who clearly reciprocated the interest and often made Sehun laugh with how not so obvious the panda was about being so obvious with his feelings.

“Here you go,” Tao said, handing Sehun his finished drink some minutes later.

Sehun thanked him, but it came out tersely because he was distracted by Yifan’s sudden idiocy, which then attracted Tao’s attention too.

Tao turned to see where Sehun had been looking, and he quickly noticed Yifan happily conversing with a female customer who must have been served while Tao was busy with Sehun’s drink. The panda frowned instantly and the bags under his eyes seemed to become even darker than they already were. Sehun even thought he heard Tao growl and had to remind himself that since Tao wasn’t actually a panda, he’d most likely imagined that. Hopefully.

When the barista started marching in the manager’s direction, Sehun started getting worried. What if Tao did something rash and got fired? Sure, the guy wasn’t too good at most aspects of working in a bubble tea shop, but he was pretty cool most of the time and Sehun thought he’d be quite bored without Luhan’s cousin around. Instead of confronting Yifan and the manager’s friend, however, Tao simply brushed past the two angrily and went into the employee back room, slamming the door behind him angrily.

Yifan looked a little lost at the sudden turn of events and gestured Sehun over. Sehun, who was almost positive the student manager still didn’t totally like him, knew that Yifan would have called Luhan instead if the latter hadn’t been working in that moment.

“Yes?” Sehun inquired nervously, bowing slightly to Yifan’s friend as he approached their table.

“Something is going on with Tao.” Yifan stated bluntly. “Tell me…” he paused, “or else.”

To say that Sehun was afraid of Yifan was an understatement. But Yifan was only tall with an intimidating glare, while Sehun had recently learned that Tao was a wushu master who could do actual physical harm, so Sehun took his chances and refused to answer.

“Oppa,” Yifan’s friend said, placing a hand on his arm in a gesture so familiar that even Sehun felt uncomfortable. “Stop being so aggressive; you’re going to scare everyone away!”

Yifan noticeably relaxed under her touch and Sehun was desperately curious about the relationship between the two. Just then, Luhan came over.

“My shift is over,” he told Sehun, and his boyfriend responded with a silent nod.

“But what about the shop?” Yifan wanted to know. “If you’re leaving and something’s wrong with Tao, who will serve the customers?”

Luhan huffed at the manager and rolled his eyes in annoyance. Tao was the BTG’s cousin, after all, and Sehun thought Luhan was probably upset that Yifan had done something to hurt Tao. “That’s on you. You are the manager, aren’t you?” he asked snarkily.

Yifan furrowed his eyebrows and nodded, puzzled at Luhan’s somewhat venomous response. Sehun caught the girl rubbing soothing circles into the student manager’s forearm.

“And anyway,” Luhan continued, still speaking with barely concealed irritation, “aren’t those new hires supposed to start today? You can just have them take care of things around here.”

“But they’re new,” Yifan said petulantly. (Sehun thought that maybe Yifan also had a problem with stating the obvious. And if the way the student manager was treating Tao right now was any indication, Yifan was probably dropped on his head as a baby, too.)

“Again,” Luhan responded, “not my problem.” Sehun internally groaned at this, worried for the second time today that someone at Just Sweet would very soon be out of a job.

Something in Luhan’s response finally seemed to make Yifan snap, because he glared at the BTG pointedly and said with finality, “Yes, Luhan. I am the manager. And you know what that means? You’re working a double shift today.” He turned his glare to Sehun, who reflexively shrunk back in fear. “And you,” he continued, “make sure he’s wearing the apron and his nametag; I’d hate for Suho and Jongdae to get the wrong idea of what it’ll be like to work here.”

Sehun gulped, but nodded and dragged Luhan away by the wrist when the BTG had tried to return Yifan’s glare with one of his own. “Lu,” Sehun hissed at his boyfriend, “stop it! You’re just going to make things worse, okay?”

Luhan turned to Sehun and instantly appeared calmer. “The way he’s treating Tao just makes me so mad, you know?” Sehun nodded sympathetically but didn’t interrupt, allowing Luhan to continue. “And didn’t you say you made plans for our 22 day anniversary? I was really looking forward to that all shift, especially since I basically ruined our last one by being so stupidly superstitious.”

It took Sehun a moment to remember what Luhan was referring to, but he soon recalled the disaster that had been their fourth day of dating, as well as Luhan’s attempt to celebrate the supposed good luck of their eighth. (He’d wanted to take Sehun paddle boating since water is sometimes lucky, too, but the BTG had only ended up with a cold after falling into the pond and needing to be rescued.) “Lu,” he replied, “yes, I made plans. But it’s okay.”

Luhan looked downcast, so Sehun pulled his boyfriend into a hug of reassurance. “Look,” he continued, “I can always reschedule and the whole point of this was so that I could spend time with you. Which I’m doing right now anyway.” That comforted Luhan a little, but he still seemed a bit skeptical, so Sehun added, “Besides, anniversaries are important because they celebrate how much time two people have been together as a couple. Since I plan on being with you forever, though, what is four, eight, or 22 days in the face of an entire lifetime spent together?”

As he said the words, Sehun was appalled at the mush coming out of his mouth. When he saw Luhan smile and melt in response, however, Sehun again decided he didn’t really care that he was becoming a sap, even if Jongin liked to occasionally tease him about being whipped. (Luckily, all it took from Sehun was a sarcastic “Oh? And who tops in your relationship?” to get Jongin to instantly blush and stop his teasing.)

Luhan, still nestled in Sehun’s arms, sighed contentedly. “Fine,” he whispered out, eventually pulling away to re-don his apron and pin his nametag securely into place.

Once Suho arrived, Luhan’s next few hours were occupied with teaching the new employees how things worked at Just Sweet, leaving Sehun to entertain himself. Around 4pm, he saw Baekyun and Chanyeol saunter in hand-in-hand, so Sehun stopped staring at Luhan’s figure in his work uniform and went to join the couple instead.

Figuring they’d be curious about the tense atmosphere that still seemed to linger in the air, Sehun filled the two in on the day’s events and asked their opinion on the situation.

“I mean, it’s not like Tao has any claim to be jealous, you know?” Sehun said, perplexed. “But, like, Yifan clearly likes him, right, so why come here of all places acting like that with someone else. And a girl, no less!” Apparently Sehun had forgotten to mention the small detail of the gender of Yifan’s friend and Baekhyun gasped out an appalled “No!” in response.

The three were still discussing what had happened when Yifan came over a few minutes later, greeting the familiar customers and wanting to know what Sehun was still doing in Just Sweet when just last week he had begged so ferociously for today off. Sehun just looked at him blankly, and Chanyeol, who didn’t work at the bubble tea shop and had no job to protect, said “It’s their anniversary, pabo” under his breath.

Unfortunately, Chanyeol had never been too good at being quiet—that’s how he and Baekhyun had gotten together in the first place actually—so Yifan managed to hear the tall boy’s words. He had the decency to look at least a little apologetic though. “Oops?” he said, the word coming out like a question.

“Yeah!” Baekhyun added, “Oops!”

“Whatever,” Sehun replied. “It’s too late now, anyway. Besides,” he concluded thoughtfully, “I’m not the one you should be apologizing to. Not really.”

For once, Yifan was not confused and said confidently, “You’re talking about Tao!” Sehun just rolled his eyes in annoyance, but Baekhyun patted the student manager on the head like a dog, while Chanyeol nodded, looking pleased. “But what do I do?” Yifan wondered aloud.

“You break up with your girlfriend; apologize to the panda for being an idiot; tell him you love him…” Baekhyun paused in thought.

“And then live happily ever after,” Chanyeol finished for him.

“Right,” Sehun and Baekhyun chorused, amused that Yifan could only blush and gawk at their suggestions.

“Right,” the student manager agreed in a daze. Yifan was so overwhelmed by the realization that his secret crush on Tao wasn’t such a secret anymore, that he didn’t even think to defend himself against the title of idiot, or to protest that he didn’t have a girlfriend, actually.

As Sehun and Luhan walked home together after a late dinner that night, Sehun wondered what tomorrow would bring. He meant that literally because Yifan had decided that until Suho and Jongdae were experienced enough to partner up on their own shift, three people would work at a time instead of two; in other words, Sehun had to work tomorrow and Jongdae would be there, but so would Tao. (The panda hadn’t been in the back room when Luhan had taken the new hires there to get their aprons, but he hadn’t yet called in sick for work tomorrow either, so Sehun was apprehensively hopeful that Yifan and Tao would manage to work things out.)

Luhan, however, took a different approach to Sehun’s question and said sagely, “Well, Yifan is going to apologize to my cousin or I’m going to shave off his caterpillar eyebrows while he sleeps.”

Sehun coughed awkwardly and said, “Hyung, I’m not sure that’s the best approach. And this is best handled by the two of them, don’t you think?”

Hearing that, Luhan stopped the two of them in the street, withdrew his hand from Sehun’s grasp and glared up at his boyfriend. “You’re so attractive, Sehunnie,” the BTG drawled out, causing Sehun to shiver and question whether or not he heard some time of vague threat in Luhan’s tone.

Sehun’s fear was confirmed when Luhan continued innocently, “It would be such a shame for you to wake up one day without eyebrows too, don’t you think?” Gulp.


	7. Red Bean Milk Tea w/Grass Pudding

If anyone asked, Oh Sehun would say that Just Sweet was lucky to have its new employees because Suho was nice and Jongdae was, well, he was funny at least.

He would not say that since Suho was actually allergic to tapioca and Jongdae's attention span lasted probably less than three seconds, that Just Sweet might have been better off without its two new additions to the employee team. (Truthfully, Suho's allergy didn't really affect Sehun one way or the other, but when Jongin—who didn't even work there—had wondered if it was bad enough that even touching the bubbles made Suho sick, Sehun had to question why on earth Kris thought it was a good idea to hire the guy. Kyungsoo thought that it was because Suho was kind of cute, in his own, straight-laced, naive kind of way, and if Jongin hadn't been a little afraid of his new boyfriend, he probably would have hit Kyungsoo for that offhandedly complimentary comment.)  
  
Jongdae, in particular, had become the bane of Sehun's existence since he'd started because Sehun had enough to worry about while sharing a shift with Tao. He didn't need the added burden of someone on shift who didn't know how to make red bean milk tea with grass pudding simply because Jongdae hadn't been listening when Sehun first explained it to him.  
  
"He's driving me crazy," Sehun complained to an amused Luhan when he ended up making the red bean drink and bringing it over to his boyfriend himself. "It is only a great fear of Yifan that keeps me from strangling him."  
  
Luhan's expression turned dark. "Don't talk about that traitor in front of me," he grumbled, clearly still angry that it had been about a week since the incident but Tao was still sad since Yifan hadn't fixed things yet. As soon as he made his feelings known about that, however, Luhan's happy smile returned with a vengeance and he grinned at his boyfriend before reaching up to pat Sehun's hair patronizingly. "Aww, Sehunnie, you weren't the best new employee either, you know. Besides, you said you wanted to be with me  
forever. If you murder our new hire then you'll go to jail and I'm not about to waste the rest of my life waiting for you to get out on good behavior."  
  
Sehun resisted rolling his eyes because he knew that would only set Luhan off even more, so he just pecked his boyfriend's cheek and went back to work, slightly nervous that Jongdae had managed to break something in the five minutes that Sehun had been gone. Fortunately, though, all of Just Sweet's tea and coffe-making equipment was intact when Sehun returned; unfortunately, it didn't stay that way for long.  
  
Sehun's shift passed slowly and was pretty uneventful aside from Jongdae's continued mini-mishaps. He waved goodbye when Luhan had to leave halfway through, waved hello when Baekhyun and Chanyeol showed up not long after, and repeated the customary greeting of "Welcome to Just Sweet!" over and over and over again. Unlike his past customers, though, the one Sehun was currently serving had actually returned his fake smile with a real one of his own and had replied cheerfully, "Omo! You're so nice! Thanks!"  
  
(At least, Sehun had thought the other guy's smile was genuine; or he did, until Jongdae emerged from the back and Sehun's customer's grin literally turned radiant. Clearly, the guy standing on the other side of the counter was a fan.)  
  
"Omo," the customer repeated as his eyes followed Jongdae's movements shamelessly. He leaned forward so he could whisper to Sehun across the counter. "Kim Jongdae is so beautiful."  
  
Sehun wrinkled his nose, kind of grossed out and disturbed by the idea that anyone could look at Kim Jongdae and think attractive instead of currently incompetent. "I mean," he conceded slowly because the guy across from him was still a customer, after all, "I guess he could be. If you like that kind of stuff."  
  
The other guy's eyes crinkled and his cheeks puffed cutely as he smiled again. "I do."  
  
Sehun coughed awkwardly and glanced behind the current customer to see that their conversation was actually holding up the line. "Anyway, sir, would you like to order something, or—?" (Sehun left it opened ended like that because if the guy liked Kim Jongdae then there was no telling what his answer would be.)  
  
"Omo!" The guy said for the third time. "I'm so sorry! Um, I think I want a red bean milk tea. And can you put grass pudding in that?"  
  
Sehun nodded and tried to keep a straight face even though the irony of the whole situation was actually really hilarious. (He'd have to tell Luhan and Jongin about it later. Probably Kyungsoo too because Sehun's glaring coworker and Sehun's best friend were now a package deal—bleh.)  
  
"Oh! And," the guy leaned close again as he looked at Sehun hopefully, "can you throw in Jongdae's number for no extra charge?"  
  
"That depends." Sehun pretended to deliberate for a moment just because it was fun to watch the other guy sweat. "We don't usually do this at Just Sweet, but can I get a name for your order? Cause I don't have my coworker's number, but I know someone who does."  
  
"It's Minseok!" The guys reaction was almost a squeak and Sehun winced at the sound as he heard Chanyeol and Baekhyun's cackled in the background. "Sorry," the guy apologized. "But, um, yeah. Minseok."  
  
A few minutes later, after Sehun had left and oblivious Jongdae at the register while Sehun prepared Minseok's drink, Sehun placed the finished order on the bar and yelled out, "Red bean for Minseok."  
  
At the sound of his name, Minseok leapt up from his seat and hurried over, just as Jongdae's head whirled in Sehun's direction, face filled with shock.  
  
"Kim Minseok?" He tried to whisper to Sehun while giving a customer change and searching around the bubble tea shop for the owner of that name.  
  
Sehun shrugged—how was he supposed to know Minseok's last name? Jongdae, though, just looked horrified as his eyes located their target and it was indeed the Kim Minseok he'd assumed. "Oh god," Jongdae groaned under his breath as he beckoned the next customer forward and Sehun just felt confused.  
  
"Is that bad?" He asked his pale coworker, once Minseok had grabbed his drink, waved goodbye to his new friend, and promised to come back again tomorrow.  
  
"Not bad, necessarily," Jongdae hedged. "It's just that he confessed to me a while ago and I haven't given him an answer yet. So now he always shows up in the most random places of my life and I don't know what to do."  
  
"Give him an answer," Sehun declared, as if it were the easiest thing in the world. (He conveniently forgot for a moment how hard it had been for him when it came to liking Luhan, and even how difficult it currently was for Tao and Yifan to be anywhere in the same room together. Jongin liked to say that his best friend's memory selection was going to get him in trouble one day, but it hadn't yet, so Sehun just ignored Jongin—like he always did—and went on with his temporarily forgetful ways.) "And how long is "a while ago" anyway?" Sehun wanted to know because Jongdae was starting to look really guilty all of a sudden and Sehun took that as a bad sign.  
  
Suddenly, though Tao appeared from where he'd been sulkily washing down and clearing tables for the last half hour, and answered the question instead. "Jongdae and Minseok were sunbaes at my high school, Sehunnie-hyung. And while I was there, I heard a rumor that Minseok-sunbae has liked Jongdae-sunbae since they were 10 or something but Jongdae-sunbae has never clarified his feelings one way or another."  
  
Tao finished with a disapprovingly raised eyebrow in Jongdae's direction, but Sehun took the willingness to discuss another's love life as a good sign of Tao's progress and clapped Luhan's cousin on the back enthusiastically. (Well, it was enthusiastic for Sehun, but if anyone asked, Tao would probably say it felt more like a gnat landing on his shoulder than a strong hand hitting his back.)  
  
"This is good," Sehun nearly crowed in excitement about the happy news he'd be able to deliver to his boyfriend's waiting ears. "You're coming back to us, Taozi!"  
  
At the reminder that he was supposed to be mad at Yifan, Tao actually got angry once more, so he left in a sudden huff that made Sehun regret saying anything in the first place. Jongdae just rolled his eyes at the other two's interaction and left to go back to his position at the register.  
  
As Sehun watched both of his coworkers walk away, a horrible thought occurred to him and he felt right then like he almost wanted to cry. If he'd thought a distracted Jongdae was a lot to deal with on top of a wallowing Tao, now that Minseok had inserted himself into the small group of regulars—employees and customers—at Just Sweet, Sehun could see things getting a whole lot worse before anything got better.


	8. Green Apple White Tea Based w/Ginger Honey

 If anyone asked, Oh Sehun would say that he did not get paid enough to make up for the number of extra shifts he'd been covering at Just Sweet lately.

He would not say that he really minded, though, because most of those extra hours coincided with Luhan's usual ones, and Sehun figured that if he were going to have spent that time with his boyfriend anyway, he shouldn't be too upset about making money while doing it. Definitely, though, Luhan or no Luhan, Sehun's part-time salary was not nearly enough when it came to most other things—like, for instance, trauma-induced hospital bills over an incident that Sehun wouldn't have had to deal with if he weren't working to cover someone else's shift.  
  
(He liked Do Kyungsoo as much as anyone who wasn't Jongin or the guy's mother could, and Sehun was really, truly glad that his best friend had found romantic happiness around the same time Sehun did. But for real though, if Kyungsoo was going to keep calling in last minute to skip his shifts, Sehun thought he should just quit already and save everyone else—though mostly just Yifan and Sehun—the trouble.)  
  
So really, if it were up to Sehun, he would have been working nothing more than his usual hours, would have spent time with Luhan somewhere that wasn't Just Sweet, and wouldn't have been around when Suho decided to be an airhead earlier by tasting a tapioca or two.  
  
"I just wanted to," Suho paused to gasp at the sensation of the tingles spreading lethally from his tongue to his swelling throat, "check." Gasp. "If," gasp, "they're boi—" Wheeze, wheeze, wheeze. "Help."  
  
"Oh my god, Sehunnie!" Luhan was freaking out, though it was understandable. "Do something!"  
  
"What the hell, Luhan?" Sehun shouted, not even caring in that moment that Yifan could technically fire him for cursing on the job. "What the hell am I supposed to do? I'm a dancer, not a doctor!"  
  
Their panic was too loud to hear a small voice offer tentatively, "Um, I'm a doctor," but Baekhyun's high pitched "Shut up, you idiots! This guy can help!" was enough to attract Luhan and Sehun's attention.  
  
The guy in question was three people from the front of the line, standing with his hand in the air in the universal sign of "I volunteer!" (Sehun wanted to add an amused "As tribute!" but Suho was basically dying, so Sehun saved that joke for another day.)  
  
"Can you do something?" Sehun cried as Suho's face began turning blue and the other customers in the cafe actually started to realize that something wasn't quite right with Just Sweet's newest employee.  
  
"I don't know!" The guy's voice broke as Sehun caught a flash of dimples right before a furrowed brow. "I'm not really a doctor yet! I'm just a medical student!" Despite his denials, though, the man walked forward past the others in line and went around the curve of the counter to approach Suho slowly.  
  
"Liar," Baekhyun coughed loud enough that Sehun could hear it from across the room.  
  
Chanyeol was horrified because he, at least, could recognize the gravity of what was going on. "Baek!" He hissed, but it was also loud and Sehun heard that, too.  
  
Suho's hands came up to grasp his throat before suddenly there was a thump, and Sehun, Luhan, and the non-doctor doctor guy all looked down to find that Suho had collapsed, unconscious, on the floor.  
  
"Somebody call 911!"  
  
"Oh my god, what's happening?"  
  
"Is that guy dead!"  
  
"Where the hell is a scary student manager when you need him?" That particular question came from Sehun as he watched the medical student lay Suho flat on his back before beginning to search his unconscious person for his allergy antidote. Indeed, even Luhan, who still wasn't over the whole Tao thing, could admit that Yifan's imposing person would have been helpful to keep the crowd at bay right about then.  
  
The customer currently saving Suho's life removed the lid of something that looked a lot like an enormous needle before he took a deep breath and plunged what was, in fact, an enormous needle into Suho's upper thigh. Sehun held his breath, convinced that whatever the poser doctor had just done had completed the job the tapioca had started and now Suho really was dead.  
  
Until he wasn't. Suho shot upward with a sudden gasp as the color of his face returned to normal and the population of the cafe breathed a collective start of relief. It was Baekhyun, Sehun believed, who started the slow clap first, and pretty soon everyone in Just Sweet was cheering.  
  
"That guy deserves a Purple Heart or something," Sehun complimented the medical student to Luhan, who was still looking a little harried but had begun to smile again.  
  
"Pretty sure those are only for members of the U.S. military," Luhan pointed out knowledgeably. He nodded his head in Suho's direction, though, and added, "But I don't think the guy will need a Purple Heart when he's clearly got Suho's already."  
  
Sehun followed his boyfriend's gaze to watch as the medical student gently laid Suho back down before placing the Just Sweet employee's head in his lap and beginning to speak to him quietly. "He's just doing his duty as a member of the healing profession," Sehun disagreed.  
  
"I'll bet Suho wants him to "do his member duty"," Luhan chortled.  
  
Sehun just gave his boyfriend a long look while he began cleaning up the mess Suho had unintentionally created with his fall. "I cannot believe you just said that. And what does that euphemism even mean?"  
  
Luhan winked. "You like it."  
  
Though he groaned and tried to disagree, Sehun had to admit to himself that Luhan was, as usual, quite right. That's why it was Sehun who ended up accompanying Suho and the doctor guy to the hospital, and why Luhan was the one who only had to stay 20 more minutes until the end of his shift before he got to go home. (The things Sehun did for lov—immense like.)  
  
"So let me get this straight." Sehun was trying to understand exactly what the medical student, who'd introduced himself as Lay Zhang and was a Chinese-American who'd come to Korea as a high school exchange student and never left, had done to save Suho. "You knew that if he was anaheimically allergic to—"  
  
"Anaphylactically," Lay interrupted to correct.  
  
"Whatever." Sehun didn't really care what it was called because he'd be sure to use smaller words later when retelling this information to everyone else; Kyungsoo was probably the only one who would recognize half the words in Lay's medical explanation anyway. "So you knew that anyone that allergic to something always carries an epidural on their per—"  
  
Suho was shaking, an after-effect of pumping his body with enough adrenaline to combat the reaction, but he caught up fast enough to correct Sehun this time before Lay did. "Epipen."  
  
"Mhmm," Sehun agreed, much more gentle with his coworker than with Lay, "that. So you had that and he," Sehun pointed to Lay, who nodded, "knew you probably would, so he body searched you pretty intimately in order to stab you with a huge needle and now we have to go to the hospital."  
  
"Yep!" Lay's agreement was cheerful, but Sehun was lost again.  
  
"But why, though? You saved him, he's fine now, we all go home happy. Right?" Sehun asked curiously.  
  
"Actually," Suho replied, still shaking, "when someone in anaphylactic shock uses the epipen, it's best to go to the hospital immediately after so that there are no adverse consequences of having so much adrenaline in the system."  
  
"What he said," Lay confirmed, gazing at Suho with a sort of awed look that made Sehun regret ever doubting Luhan.  
  
"Wait," Sehun thought he finally understood, but something was bothering him. "If it's so important that he go there instantly, why did we take the bus?"  
  
Lay shrugged; he didn't have a car. Suho shrugged too because he didn't either. Sehun didn't end up shrugging because he'd asked the question in the first place, but he did think briefly about his bike and how silly it would have been to try pedaling all three of them to the nearest emergency room. The bus, it seemed, really was their best option.  
  
"You're very knowledgeable about this subject," Lay complimented Suho while Sehun's brain processed his bus question and he tried not to gag.  
  
Suho's face flushed instantly, and Sehun did gag then, but neither of the other two heard him because they were much too focused on each other to notice.  
  
"But apparently that wasn't enough," Suho admitted as he glanced at Lay through long lashes. "I would have died today if it weren't for you."  
  
Lay tried to brush off Suho's thanks, but even Sehun could tell it was genuine, so when Suho leaned over Sehun's seat to peck Lay's cheek lightly, the medical student just sort of sat there quietly as he blushed.  
  
"I do what I can," Lay said after a while. "I am a doctor, after all."  
  
Sehun took a play from Baekhyun. "Liar!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To clarify: Lay Zhang and Zhang Yixing (from the first chapter) are not the same person. Sorry for the confusion but I needed a character.


	9. Honeydew Milk Tea w/Rainbow Pudding

If anyone asked, Oh Sehun would say that he wasn't exactly sure when Just Sweet changed from a bubble tea shop into the setting for a day drama, but he was tired of it.

He would not say that he secretly found Minseok's obsession with Jongdae kind of adorable or that he was at all invested in getting the unlikely couple together someday soon. (Because he didn't and he wasn't. For one thing, adorable was an adjective Sehun reserved solely for his BTG. For another, he was not cut out to be a matchmaker—not in this life or any other—and the fate of other peoples' romantic happiness had nothing to do with him. Nothing at all.)

Still, with Suho's understandable resignation following his unfortunate allergy incident a few days earlier, Sehun found himself more involved in Minseok and Jongdae's situation than he'd ever expected—or honestly wanted—to be.

"It's like they think I'm a freaking relationship counselor or something!" Sehun complained to his boyfriend as Luhan did school work and the younger boy, who was technically on shift, pretended to wipe down the table.

"Aren't you?" Luhan teased sweetly, pecking a quick kiss of insincere apology to his boyfriend's cheek after Sehun squawked in annoyance.

"Bully," Sehun whined, aegyo accidental but effective nonetheless. He caught Luhan's gaze as it shifted over his shoulder and into a glare, and Sehun turned around to find Yifan hovering awkwardly a few meters away. The student manager coughed like he was hinting at something and though Sehun knew Luhan would probably have just ignored Yifan, Sehun didn't really have the energy. (He got that from Jongin, probably. Or maybe it was the other way around? Either way, Kyungsoo was always complaining about his boyfriend's lazy tendencies, but Sehun and his best friend had been that way since childhood. No amount of pestering from Mama Do was going to change that.)

With a sigh and a lingering brush of his palm across Luhan's smaller shoulders, Sehun picked up his rag and returned forlornly to his spot behind the counter. His arrival relieved Jongdae of the cashier position, and just in time too because not a minute passed after Jongdae disappeared into the back for his break before Minseok was barreling through Just Sweet's doors with two surprising companions in tow.

"Suho hyung! And Lay-ssi!" Sehun greeted after exchanging silent "Hello" with a sad-looking Minseok. Truthfully Sehun was a little surprised to see the three together.

"We're flatmates, actually. Me and Lay," Minseok shared in response to Sehun's unspoken curiosity.

"I was here to meet Min for a quick study break when Junnie nearly died," Lay added while Sehun nodded in understanding and Suho blushed when Lay smiled winningly at him. (Sehun didn't know who this Junnie was, but the only near-death experience in Just Sweet's recent history was Suho's, so Sehun had no problem making an educated guess. That and Lay's dimples were pretty difficult to argue with, even for someone as admittedly sullen as Sehun.)

"And now we're here for some bubble tea!" Suho concluded, though he rapidly amended his statement to "Milk tea! No tapioca involved!" when Sehun shot him a look. Jongdae chose that moment to emerge from the back room with his apron sloppily tied around his waist and his name tag pinned shamelessly askew.

Sehun's coworker grumbled incoherently when he recognized the customers standing before the register, and he rubbed at his eyes with a frown, clearly exhausted and possibly still waking up from a stolen nap. "Oh," he said, voice level and deceptively disinterested. "It's you."

It should have been strange for Sehun to see the normally mischievous and playful Jongdae acting so cold, but sadly such behavior had recently become pretty standard for the other boy.

(Sehun had it on good authority—and by that he meant Jongin, who'd heard the story from Kyungsoo, obviously—that Jongdae and Minseok had had some sort of a fight. Apparently Jongdae had finally given an answer to Minseok's confession—and a positive one, too—but then he'd asked Minseok to wait until Jongdae felt ready for a relationship. Minseok had been understandably livid, had yelled something along the lines of "I've been waiting for you for years, you selfish bastard!", and had stormed out of the shop in a huff.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun backed up the story when Sehun grilled them about the details over his next shift, and Sehun found himself sad that he had missed it.)

Ignoring Jongdae's presence completely, Minseok finally placed his order of a plain milk tea with bubbles, while Suho got a honeydew milk tea with rainbow pudding—"Like your boyfriend's rainbow hair!" he told Sehun with an excited smile. Lay ordered nothing at all but still insisted on paying, and Sehun processed the payment while Jongdae moped behind him. Jongdae stood with back turned away from Minseok and the others even though both Just Sweet employees, and possibly even Suho, knew that Jongdae couldn't have made the ordered drinks if his life depended on it. (He really was that hopeless and it really did drive Sehun insane.)

The three customers went to find themselves a table, and Minseok waved over at Baekhyun and Chanyeol where the couple was hunched together and whispering suspiciously. Both boys took a moment to wave back before returning to their deeply important conversation, and Sehun shot Luhan a desperate look accompanied by a long suffering sigh. The BTG just laughed and blew his boyfriend a kiss before returning his attention to his textbooks.

And Jongdae was indeed useless as Sehun moved around the working space to make the drinks. He was even worse today, though, because in the time it had taken Minseok and the other two to order, Yifan's pretty girlfriend had arrived and now Minseok was openly flirting with the girl right in front of Jongdae's face.

"The nerve," Sehun thought he heard Jongdae complain under his breath. (And was that a clenched fist Sehun saw barely hidden beneath the skirt of Jongdae's uniform apron?)

Honestly, part of Sehun wanted to agree with Jongdae because, really, what kind of guy gets a return confession from his lifetime crush and then turns around to flirt with someone else? A different part of Sehun—the part that had to clean up all of Jongdae's messes and secretly relished the jealous anguish Yifan would likely feel when he emerged from his office to find his girlfriend flirting with another guy—completely disagreed: if Minseok wanted to flirt with someone in an obvious ploy to make Jongdae jealous, Sehun certainly wasn't going to get involved. And so he didn't, but Luhan did.

"I can't believe you!" Luhan hissed, stomping toward Minseok and Yifan's girlfriend with short, angry steps that got him across the shop floor much faster than expected for someone with legs so little. (Sehun knew from experience that Luhan's legs could be pretty long when necessary—like when they were kissing against the closed door of Luhan's dorm and the BTG had the urge to wrap himself around Sehun's body for better balance and access—but it was still pretty impressive how speedy Luhan could charge when mad enough.) "You!" He turned first to Yifan's girlfriend, pointing an accusatory finger into her upper arm. "My poor baby cousin is helplessly into your boyfriend and I will not have you emotionally damaging someone that my Taozi has feelings for. Yifan deserves whatever he gets in my opinion, but Tao doesn't deserve to have his heart broken by having the person he likes get his own heart broken. So stop it."

Yifan's girlfriend was left gaping at the small Chinese boy as Luhan turned all of his ire onto Minseok. Sehun's boyfriend apparently still had a lot of pent-up feelings and it was truly remarkable watching Luhan tear into Minseok.

"Jongdae said he likes you, you pabo! So what if he doesn't think he's ready for a relationship yet? Count your blessings! At least you don't have to wait in limbo anymore. Now you know for sure and you can win him over with your charms but trying to make him jealous is not the right way to do it." Luhan deflated slowly as Minseok's pout deepened and Yifan's girlfriend continued to watch silently, clearly in shock.

With one last glare at both parties, Luhan commanded "Fix this," before flouncing to Sehun's side and burying his face into his boyfriend's shoulder with a pronounced sigh. Baekhyun and Chanyeol could be heard clapping loudly in the background, but Sehun ignored them to kiss the top of Luhan's head—he shouldn't find Luhan stunning when he was angry like that, but it was sort of hard for Sehun not to find everything Luhan did absolutely beautiful—and brush a hand to pet at his boyfriend's hair in steady, soothing strokes.

"You have homework, love," he reminded his boyfriend gently. Luhan groaned into Sehun's collarbone and breathed deeply for a few seconds, but eventually he pulled away. With a quick kiss to Sehun's lips, Luhan returned to his table in silence and resumed studying like he hadn't just caused a hugely dramatic scene. (Sehun was positive Jongin would relish the gossip when he shared it later, and Sehun was actually sort of sad that his best friend hadn't caught Luhan's outburst for himself. For some reason it was kind of satisfying to Sehun that his boyfriend could be just as scary as Jongin's.)

After that, things pretty much returned to normal—or as normal as things in Just Sweet ever seemed to be. Minseok sat hunched over his milk tea for a few minutes; he was sniffling suspiciously and it wasn't long before he fled the shop with his hands over his face and his drink forgotten. Jongdae shot Sehun a pleading look and, after a begrudging nod of permission from his harried coworker, quickly followed Minseok out the door.

"I hope they work it out," Sehun mumbled to himself as he cleared away Minseok's trash and washed the table as quickly as he could. Jongdae's sudden departure meant Sehun was the only regular employee on shift at the moment—Yifan, still holed up in his office and completely oblivious to everything that had just occurred in the shop he was supposed to be managing, didn't count—and Sehun was loath to leave the register unattended for long. Still, by the time he'd finished tidying up around Just Sweet, there was already a small line formed by customers waiting to order, and Sehun was surprised to see Yifan's girlfriend first in line.

"Sorry for the delay," he apologized stiffly, hating that his job required him to be polite even when he didn't think the particular customer deserved it. "What can I get you?"

The girl leaned forward, her expression puzzled, and asked "If I order something will you tell me why on earth everyone in this place seems to hate me?"

Sehun wasn't expecting that. "Um," he paused, unsure what to do, but then Yifan came out of his office and Sehun muttered "Sure, I guess. Give me a minute," before resuming his duties and looking appropriately busy.

"Where's Jongdae?" Yifan wanted to know, and Sehun had to resist the urge to roll his eyes as he handed Yifan's girlfriend her change. (It seemed like every employee at Just Sweet other than Sehun—and Luhan, of course—were completely imcompetent. Kyungsoo never came to work, Yifan never left his office, and Jongdae couldn't actually make any of the items on the drink menu. Sehun was honestly surprised that the bubble tea shop was even still open at the rate they were going.)

"Out," Sehun responded curtly while the customer after Yifan's girlfriend took his sweet time deciding what to order. (Seriously, though, why couldn't he have done that while waiting? Sehun hated his job.) "He had a minor emergency."

"Oh." The student manager didn't seem to know what to say to that, so he just nodded briefly, offered a tired smile to his girlfriend, and went back into hiding. Jongdae's sense of timing was apparently impeccable because he returned right after Yifan closed the door to his office behind him. Sehun's coworker was smiling broadly so Sehun assumed something good must have happened in the 15 or so minutes since Jongdae had abandoned him.

"I covered for you with Yifan," Sehun told Jongdae. "Now cover for me."

"But the orders?" Jongdae sounded surprised that someone younger than him had the nerve to boss him around, but even more evident was the instant panic in his voice when it occurred to him that he'd have to actually make the drinks that had been ordered while he was out making up with Minseok.

"You'll be fine," Sehun reassured the older boy, not really believing his words himself but the sight of Yifan's girlfriend waiting expectantly was starting to annoy him and Sehun wanted to deal with that situation as fast as he could, so he left Jongdae standing alone in the work space without a backward glance.

"He looks a little out of his league," the girl pointed out offhandedly as Sehun approached wearing an obvious frown. "And you look a little unhappy to see me," she added, attempting a joke to lighten the mood but not doing so very successfully.

"Your boyfriend didn't look all that happy to see you either," Sehun countered almost maliciously. (The drama was severely exhausting. Sehun wished for the easy days, back when it was just him pining over his BTG.)

To Sehun's surprise, the girl looked instantly annoyed. "Would you all stop saying that? Yifan is not my boyfriend! God."

Huh. That was certainly not what Sehun had been expecting her to say, and if their sudden attention was anything to go by, Luhan, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol seemed just as shocked.

"He's not?" Tao questioned tentatively, his voice sounding hopeful. Sehun had no idea when Luhan's cousin had gotten to Just Sweet, but a glance at his watch revealed that his shift really was almost over—thank God!—and that Luhan and Tao's shared shift was set to start in less than ten minutes.

"Um, no?" The girl's answer came out like a question of it's own, and Sehun couldn't decide if that was because she was unsure or because she couldn't understand how anyone could possibly think she and Yifan were an item. "I have a girlfriend?" She offered, still questioning, though this time Sehun was sure it's because she was simply confused.

"You do?" Tao squeaked in surprise and Sehun rolled his eyes. Of course she did. Of course the drama that had been consuming all of Just Sweet's employees and half of its regular customers for over a month wasn't really drama at all. Of course Yifan was a hopeless idiot who'd been making Tao suffer for ages simply because he didn't know any better. Of course.

"I quit," Sehun declared loudly, tossing the rag in his hand onto the table. He wasn't sure anyone heard him except for Luhan, who snickered and winked again.

"Sure you do," the BTG mouthed at his boyfriend in amusement. "Sure."


	10. Coffee, Black

If anyone asked, Oh Sehun would say that he really was considering quitting his job at Just Sweet. (And Luhan would probably say that Oh Sehun was a liar.)

He would not say that he might actually miss the antics of all the coworkers who'd become his friends over the few months he'd worked there.

Sehun would not miss Baekhyun and Chanyeol's strangely constant presence in the bubble tea shop. (Did those two not have anywhere better to be? If not for the pay and for Luhan, Sehun was pretty sure he would never want to spend any more time in Just Sweet than absolutely necessary.) He would not miss watching Suho and Lay sneak shy glances at each other while they held hands under the table directly in front of the register and in full view of Sehun. He would not miss Minseok's cheerful visits. (Okay, maybe Sehun might miss that. But he would certainly not be sad without Minseok and Jongdae's relationship drama consuming his life.)

Most of all, Sehun would not miss covering shifts for basically everyone because on most days Kyungsoo was too busy dating Jongin to show to up to work, Jongdae was too incompetent to actually do anything, and Tao was still too hurt by the misunderstanding with Yifan to be particularly useful either. Recently, too, since Yifan had rearranged everyone's work schedule to cover Suho's sudden and unexpected absence, Sehun hadn't really had a chance to share a shift with his boyfriend and he was really starting to miss Luhan. (They saw each other while the other was working, sure, but undistracted and focused time together had been a little hard to find in the past few weeks.)

Of course, when Sehun appeared in the door of the student manager's office with his resignation letter in hand, none of those made the list of explicit reasons for why Sehun was quitting. Simply put, Sehun didn't have time for Just Sweet anymore, and that's exactly what he told Yifan.

"It's been really busy lately, you know?" Sehun asked this like Yifan could relate to the shared Just Sweet employee struggle, even though he had personal doubts about Yifan's capabilities. (Not that he told the student manager that, obviously. Yifan had been more MIA than ever recently, but Sehun could still clearly recall a time when Yifan--but particularly his caterpillar eyebrows--had been incredibly terrifying.)

To Sehun's utter surprise, Yifan let out a long sigh and dropped his head into his overly large hands. "Yeah," Yifan agreed, voice heavy, "I know."

"Uh," Sehun didn't really know what to say. He kind of wanted to ask if the student manager was doing alright, but then Sehun remembered that Yifan still hadn't apologized or worked things out with Luhan's cousin, even though it had literally been months since their falling out. Instead he just said, "So do you accept my immediate resignation?"

Yifan surprised Sehun again by asking, "Can this be a two week notice?" The older boy rubbed at his eyes in clear exhaustion, but also some other negative emotion that Sehun couldn't quite identify, and he looked so completely pitiful that Sehun couldn't help agreeing.

"Fine," he acquiesced almost immediately to Yifan's request. (Jongin would say that dating Luhan had made Sehun a sap. For once, Sehun would probably agree.) "But after that, I'm out."

"Sure, sure," Yifan agreed easily, returing his head to his hands and sighing loudly again. The movement was a clear dismissal, but Sehun's shift didn't start for a while yet, so he stood up but didn't leave, hovering wkwardly in front of Yifan's desk as he debated what to say.

Finally, Sehun settled on the "Are you alright?" he'd considered asking earlier, and the look of pleasant surprise on the student manager's face made Sehun regret being so coldhearted about quitting.

"The owners are closing our branch," Yifan admitted quietly. "I've been trying for weeks to get them to change their mind about it, but they're pretty adamant. And then I called all the other Just Sweet's in the area but none of them are interested in hiring or letting any of the employees here transfer in." He took a deep breath, steadying himself, and Sehun could have said something but the student manager didn't seemed like he was totally finished sharing, so Sehun sat back down and stayed silent.

"And Jongdae was literally just hired, you know? And then there's Luhan, who's been here the longest, by the way, and is so dedicated to the shop that it just feels awful to know that I'm going to have to be the one to tell him that in a little over two weeks he's going to be out of a part-time job. And then there's Tao." At that, Yifan groaned and seemed unable to continue.

"What about him?" Sehun prompted. He was still trying to process everything Yifan had just laid on him, but the compulsion to at least try and help with the whole Tao debacle was too strong to ignore. (Damn it! Dating Luhan really had made Sehun sappy.)

"I messed up," Yifan admitted. "Badly."

Sehun couldn't disagree, but Yifan was still his boss for two more weeks so the younger boy chose his next words with uncharacteristic care. "It's only bad if it's not fixable. And I think this is."

Yifan looked hopeful and Sehun was reminded of the same expression on Tao's face a few days earlier when Krystal, the girl who was actually dating Yifan's step-sister and definitely not Yifan, had revealed the truth of her relationship with Just Sweet's student manager. It was that memory that prompted Sehun to cautiously offer "Lu and I could help, maybe? Fix things, I mean."

The student manager accepted immediately--like Sehun had known he would--but it took a little more work to convince Luhan that helping Yifan apologize really was the right thing to do. (Especially since Luhan had at some point decided that Yifan wasn't even worth being mad at. Now he just went in to work, either for Sehun's shift or his own, and pretended the student manager didn't exist.)

"Think of Tao," Sehun tried first. The tactic didn't work and Sehun ended up with a dirty rag thrown in his face for all his troubles when Luhan had huffed at him from over the counter "I am thinking of Taozi!"

Next, Sehun went to Just Sweet's resident love experts, who suggested Sehun and Yifan come up with a plan before trying to enlist Luhan's assistance.

"Your bubble tea guy is much more likely to want to help if he thinks it'll work," Baekhyun told Sehun knowledgebly.

"That," Chanyeol agreed with his boyfriend's advice, "and Luhan has to see that Yifan is actually sincere about his intentions toward Tao. Like Tao's not going to get hurt by your manager's idiocy again, you know?"

Sehun did know, which is why he not only made Yifan come up with an elaborate even with which to apologize, but also cornered Krystal to get her and her girlfriend's help. ("Tao might need further convincing that you and Yifan aren't really a thing," he guilt-tripped, watching with secret satisfaction as Krystal's face twisted in disgust at the thought of dating her girlfriend's step-brother.) Soon--and probably because Chanyeol and Baekhyun's ability to keep secrets was basically nonexistent--Jongdae and Minseok were involved too, and once Minseok got wind of the plan that meant his flatmate and his flatmate's boyfriend also wanted to participate. By the end of the week, the Just Sweet regulars who didn't know about Yifan's plans to make up with Tao were Luhan and the recipient himself. (Even Jongin and Kyungsoo knew, mostly because Sehun had complained to his best friend about Luhan's unwilllingness to help out and Jongin had told Kyungsoo. If Kyungsoo ever came into work like he was supposed to, the owl-eyed boy would probably have found out all on his own, but Sehun thought it had probably been weeks since he'd last seen Jongin's boyfriend in the context of Just Sweet.)

Working with everyone for Tao's benefit and Luhan's convincing reminded Sehun why he avoided group projects in school, and he was never more thankful for a day than the one when Yifan was set to finally pull everything off. Baekhyun and Chanyeol were seated at their usual table, as were Lay and Suho. Sehun was behind the counter, making drinks while Yifan hid in his office and Tao worked the register, and he nearly sighed in relief when Jongdae burst through the door with a large bouquet in hand.

"Can I hide this under the counter?" The troublemaking employee asked an oblivious Tao. "I want to ask Minnie to be my boyfriend properly, but it's supposed to be a surprise and I don't know when he'll suddenly show up." (The flowers were Yifan's idea, but hiding them and making the whole thing seem like a ploy to get Jongdae and Minseok together had been Sehun's brain child entirely.)

Tao, busy taking the order of an entwined Krystal and Amber--Yifan's elusive step-sister who was partially responsible for all of this in the first place--nodded distractedly, though once they paid and moved away Tao made sure to coo appropriately that Minseok would love the gesture. He even managed a "Sunflowers are my favorite too!" before an off-duty Luhan appeared at the counter to order his usual. Sehun's boyfriend was accompanied by Minseok, who pretended not to know what Tao was talking about and ordered a drink as well. As planned, Yifan emerged from his back office the moment Luhan pulled out his wallet to pay, and the sad look Tao shot the student manager was pretty hard to miss.

"It's on me," Yifan surprised Tao by saying. "And I've got an announcement to make." (Everyone else already knew about the store closing, and were surprisingly okay with it. Kyungsoo confessed that he was planning to quit anyway; Jongdae didn't think he was cut out for the bubble tea life; Luhan was interested in a different part-time job as a tutor that would have severely cut into his availability; and Sehun, who had already submitted his notice, certainly wasn't going to put up a fuss.) "This is Just Sweet's last day of business, everyone."

Baekhyun and Chanyeol, ever the drama enthusiasts, gasped appropriately, as did Tao. Yifan turned to Luhan's cousin, his gaze softening as he took a step toward Tao cautiously.

"I'm sorry for not telling you earlier," Yifan apologized. "But you weren't exactly speaking to me." Luhan harrumphed and mumbled something nasty under his breath, but Sehun hushed his boyfriend with a pointed look. Tao's brow was furrowed and he was pouting in confusion as Yifan continued. "And I know that was mostly my fault, so I'm sorry for that too. I'm sorry for allowing you to think that I was dating Krystal. I'm sorry for not saying sorry earlier. I'm sorry for thinking that if I could just fix the situation with the store first, that this issue between you and me would automatically fix itself."

Tao rolled his eyes at that last apology, but accepted them all with a shy smile and unshed tears shinining in his eyes. "I'm sorry too," he offered softly, though Luhan muttered again that he didn't think Tao had any reason to apologize. "I made assumptions in correctly and got angry at you for something that wasn't your fault. I could have gone to you to find out the truth, but I didn't, and so I'm sorry."

As they spoke, the two boys inched closer to each other almost subconsciously. By the time Tao finished his own apologetic monologue, he and Yifan were standing toe to toe and their faces were so close that Sehun was sure they could kiss easily if they really wanted to. Which they did, much to Luhan's indignant annoyance and everyone else's joy.

"I really like you," Yifan confessed after he pulled away. He had a bright smile on his face when Jongdae handed him the sunflowers, which Yifan then gave to Tao.

"I'm glad," Tao confessed in return,, accepting the flowers with a blush and a huge grin of his own. "Cause I like you too."

"Yeah!" Chanyeol cheered in the background.

"We know!" Baekhyun added excitedly while Sehun just rolled his eyes. (Okay, yeah, fine. Maybe he'd miss this.)

Yifan was quick to ask Tao out on a date after that. ("For anything other than bubble tea, okay? Coffee maybe? I drink mine black.") Of course, Tao was just as quick to agree to a date because he frankly didn't care what they did as long as they did it together. Luhan aww'd at that and Sehun finished his last shift at Just Sweet with the knowledge that he'd successful convinced his boyfriend that Yifan was sincere, and everything was going to be just fine between Luhan's cousin and the no-longer-that-scary student manager.

Everything was going to be just fine between him and Luhan too. Just Sweet had featured heavily in their story as they met, confessed, and got together, but Sehun knew they didn't need the bubble tea shop. They were going to be together regardless.

(And from the looks of things, all of the other Just Sweet couples were going to be just fine too.)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you!

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposted on AFF
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the story.


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